Make your mark— Global

Preface

Wasabi, beer, olive oil, iron ore and wool: certainly the worst possible ingredients for a cocktail but, it turns out, the perfect recipe for business success. Here we profile five companies that between them have made these elements their own, from a knitwear company in Scotland to a mining start-up in Australia.

There’s no exact blueprint for starting a new business. Ideas can appear in a flash of inspiration or smoulder for years until they come to fruition. Branding strategies and business plans can be scrawled on the back of an envelope or plotted by teams of highly paid consultants. One thing remains constant: starting a brand from scratch demands insight, tenacity and vision. But rather than theory, here you’ll find the practical wisdom of a knitwear brand that launched and launched again before getting it right; a group of Chilean entrepreneurs who…

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Wasabi, beer, olive oil, iron ore and wool: certainly the worst possible ingredients for a cocktail but, it turns out, the perfect recipe for business success. Here we profile five companies that between them have made…

Faribault Woolen Mill Co seemed dead and buried when it was forced to close in 2009. Its renaissance under the guidance of two local businessmen has proven blanket-like: comforting and all-encompassing.

Finding your own path is the boldest way to make good ideas happen. So why do so few trust their gut? This issue catches up with business owners, innovators and cultural figures creating new ways to work as they go.

Set up nearly four years ago by three engineering graduates, Aptomar is one of the many innovative young start-ups thriving in Trondheim, the tech capital of Norway. The firm’s latest maritime navigation equipment is not…

Setting up shop on your own after three decades at a leading engineering firm is a huge leap of faith. But for Cecil Balmond, who runs a nascent design company with his daughter, it seemed like the logical step.